A timely reminder, followed by a summation of why my day was, for the most part, pretty much value
First, a bit of business:
Let this serve as a general reminder that my two auctions at help_japan end on March 31st, so if you want to bid you have a few days left in which to do so. I am offering long-fic here. I am also offering drabbles here; there are four left, if anyone's interested. (There have been intimations that this may just be the first round of auctions for this cause. For what it's worth, if there is indeed a second round, I may be considering offering remaining/additional drabbles then.)
If you're not interested in my stuff, I heartily encourage you to still check out the tons of other stuff that's up for auction. All of the offers have been collected and bookmarked on Delicious; go, browse, see if there's something you fancy!
And now, with that business completed, stuff about my day will go . . .
. . . here!
First, I'm offering up this friendly bit of free advice regarding retail etiquette, unlikely to be found in any books or articles on the subject. This is straight from the horse's mouth here. (The horse being me, which is really a rather unflattering metaphor when I think about it, but whatever.) The advice is simple: the cashiers/salespeople/employees you're talking to is at work. They are in a customer-service job. They are a captive audience; more than that, they are a captive audience that is expected to be nice and pleasant and friendly and helpful and about fifty other adjectives that really all boil down to the same thing. They are required to, if not outright laugh at your jokes and other attempts at humor, at least smile politely. Now pay attention, because I'm about to lay some wisdom on you: SOMETIMES THEY DO NOT WANT TO. Sometimes they've had a long day, or are having troubles at home, or--and really, I can't emphasize this last one enough--your jokes are just not funny. Seriously. If you think of it, odds are good they've already heard it about five hundred times. This week.
Now, sometimes this is fine. Sometimes the employee will be in a cheery mood, or perhaps just naturally full of joie de vivre. By all means, chat and joke and giggle with them! It's probably making the day go by a little faster. But please, please, when you approach an employee, take a moment to observe their body language. If you experience any uncertainty--any at all--about whether or not they're in the mood to pal around, don't try. Just . . . please. We are at your mercy, and sometimes we just want to get the hell out of there and go home.
*ahem*
RIGHT! Now that that's out of the way. XD Today marked my fourth day in a row, which doesn't sound like a lot to you non-retail types. Let me assure you: when you're on your feet all day, active and hauling things and dealing with people you sometimes really don't want to deal with, four days is a long time. Especially since the first two days of this stretch were the last two days of our coupon sale, which meant we were ridiculously busy. But now--NOW!--my day is done and I have tomorrow off! Which leads me to the first reason this day kind of rules:
Tuesday is 10%-off Wine Day at Cork & Barrel. HELLZ. YEAH. I have a rosé and . . . wait for it . . . A PORT. I have never tried port before, but I am OMG EXCITE. All I need now is a sailing ship, and/or some political conversation and an innocent young thing to defile afterwards. The Rachel Maddow Show is coming on right now (there's reason #2); I shall expect the innocent young thing delivered to my door within an hour. -_-
And finally, I have no work tomorrow, I have delicious Chinese food and hella wine waiting for me, a news program to watch and several mini-fics to write. OMGYG MY DAY IS KIND OF RULING RIGHT NOW.
Let this serve as a general reminder that my two auctions at help_japan end on March 31st, so if you want to bid you have a few days left in which to do so. I am offering long-fic here. I am also offering drabbles here; there are four left, if anyone's interested. (There have been intimations that this may just be the first round of auctions for this cause. For what it's worth, if there is indeed a second round, I may be considering offering remaining/additional drabbles then.)
If you're not interested in my stuff, I heartily encourage you to still check out the tons of other stuff that's up for auction. All of the offers have been collected and bookmarked on Delicious; go, browse, see if there's something you fancy!
And now, with that business completed, stuff about my day will go . . .
. . . here!
First, I'm offering up this friendly bit of free advice regarding retail etiquette, unlikely to be found in any books or articles on the subject. This is straight from the horse's mouth here. (The horse being me, which is really a rather unflattering metaphor when I think about it, but whatever.) The advice is simple: the cashiers/salespeople/employees you're talking to is at work. They are in a customer-service job. They are a captive audience; more than that, they are a captive audience that is expected to be nice and pleasant and friendly and helpful and about fifty other adjectives that really all boil down to the same thing. They are required to, if not outright laugh at your jokes and other attempts at humor, at least smile politely. Now pay attention, because I'm about to lay some wisdom on you: SOMETIMES THEY DO NOT WANT TO. Sometimes they've had a long day, or are having troubles at home, or--and really, I can't emphasize this last one enough--your jokes are just not funny. Seriously. If you think of it, odds are good they've already heard it about five hundred times. This week.
Now, sometimes this is fine. Sometimes the employee will be in a cheery mood, or perhaps just naturally full of joie de vivre. By all means, chat and joke and giggle with them! It's probably making the day go by a little faster. But please, please, when you approach an employee, take a moment to observe their body language. If you experience any uncertainty--any at all--about whether or not they're in the mood to pal around, don't try. Just . . . please. We are at your mercy, and sometimes we just want to get the hell out of there and go home.
*ahem*
RIGHT! Now that that's out of the way. XD Today marked my fourth day in a row, which doesn't sound like a lot to you non-retail types. Let me assure you: when you're on your feet all day, active and hauling things and dealing with people you sometimes really don't want to deal with, four days is a long time. Especially since the first two days of this stretch were the last two days of our coupon sale, which meant we were ridiculously busy. But now--NOW!--my day is done and I have tomorrow off! Which leads me to the first reason this day kind of rules:
Tuesday is 10%-off Wine Day at Cork & Barrel. HELLZ. YEAH. I have a rosé and . . . wait for it . . . A PORT. I have never tried port before, but I am OMG EXCITE. All I need now is a sailing ship, and/or some political conversation and an innocent young thing to defile afterwards. The Rachel Maddow Show is coming on right now (there's reason #2); I shall expect the innocent young thing delivered to my door within an hour. -_-
And finally, I have no work tomorrow, I have delicious Chinese food and hella wine waiting for me, a news program to watch and several mini-fics to write. OMGYG MY DAY IS KIND OF RULING RIGHT NOW.